Head Start Program Stalls Over Demand For U.s. Grant

September 12, 1985|By Terry Osinski of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD — The Seminole County School Board's plan to take over the orphaned Head Start program has been delayed until the federal government comes up with additional money to repair or replace run-down buildings for preschool education for disadvantaged children.

Head Start may not begin at all this year, said Ken Bovio, the school administration's director of elementary education who returned Monday from a conference with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services representatives in Atlanta.

Classes normally open the same day as public schools but have remained closed because the Head Start sponsor, Seminole Community Action, disbanded last month after more than two years of financial troubles. SCA was cited for mismanagement of anti-poverty programs and the state withdrew grant money.

The school board has been allocated a $360,000 grant to fund educational needs of 200 children expected to enroll in the program this year. However, the school board applied to adopt the federally funded program only if the government would provide an additional $160,000 for new portable classrooms and for health care services to children.

Bovio said there is no hope extra money will come this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Rrepresentatives from the federal agency ''told us up-front they did not have the money and it could be another year or year and a half before the extra money could be found,'' he said.

Repeated calls Tuesday and Wednesday to the federal agency in Atlanta were not returned. William Sadler, chief of Head Start, finally told his secretary he was not available to talk to anyone from the press.

The school board has no intention of taking over the project without the additional money for building improvements, Bovio said.

The board was the only agency to apply for sponsorship of the program, although agencies that run similar programs in Orange and Lake counties expressed an interest.

In its sponsorship application, the school board asked for an additional $120,000 to build six classrooms to replace existing ones that do not meet state safety requirements. The board said it needed another $40,000 to pay for general health care.

Bovio said that representatives of the federal agencydid agree that the existing Head Start classrooms are not acceptable and need renovations or replacements. Bovio took pictures showing rotting floorboards, dirty restrooms and cramped quarters in three of the four county Head Start locations.

The school board is expecting to receive a letter outlining the agency's stand on the issue today, Bovio said.